Coastlines
by IndifferentIgnorance
Summary: Nico visits Ireland to clear his head and meets a familiar(ish) face... Chapters 1-10 were written pre-BOO, so have no spoilers. I've tried to incorporate BOO in from 11 onwards, so there are spoilers there! [Commission for Ragemoon.]
1. The Storm

**I usually leave notes until the end but this was a commission for Ragemoon over at DeviantART; her character Morris is in this and I don't take credit for him any more than I take credit for Uncle Rick's work. Phew, done.**

* * *

><p><span><strong>Coastlines<strong>

January

It was almost too cold to be sitting outside. Drizzle stuck to Nico's hair, dripping down his neck and stinging his eyes. He was sitting a mile or so away from a thunderstorm, his feet up on a park bench, ignoring the strange looks emitting from the café twenty feet up the beach. He, Reyna and Coach Hedge had stopped briefly in Ireland while escorting the Athena Parthenos home and once everything quietened down he returned to the most desolate stretch of coastline he had ever seen. The café was the only landmark for miles and although during summer months the area would be teeming with tourists, in mid-January it was deserted. It was perfect.

Everyone had asked him to stay, of course. Celebrations at both camps still hadn't ended even after all this time. Nico couldn't go anywhere in the States without bumping into some sort of demigod party so he had shadow-travelled as far away as possible just for some peace. Still, this place was pretty grim. Watching the thunderstorm roll across the waves, Nico wondered why he kept returning to the coastline. Well, he knew _why_. He just didn't know why he still bothered. He should have gone into the Underworld, since it was warm, at least – and the only place his 'gifts' made him feel really at home. But no, he had to keep sitting around, feeling sorry for himself and going toward anything that reminded him of Percy. Gods, he was pathetic.

It was time to start appreciating the good stuff in his life. That's what Hazel had said not long before he left America. He had to separate his issues and tackle them slowly while taking the time to appreciate the positives. Clearly, she had been reading self-help books. Still. The storm was nice. It was raging toward the beach, whipping up waves until they were the size of houses then sending them crashing down with the force of an old sea god. If he had been caught in that, Nico would have been squashed like a fly on a windscreen.

Wait.

Someone was caught in the waves.

Blinking hard, Nico stood up and strode toward the water's edge, keeping his eyes fixed on the blur of colour that was being tossed around like a ragdoll toward the shore. He caught a glimpse of black hair and his breath caught in his throat. No. It couldn't be. There was no way Percy would get caught in a storm like that. Percy could _create_ a storm like that. A sudden surge in the current sent the figure hurtling into the shallows, face down. Before Nico could haul him out –presuming it was a 'him'– another figure burst out of the sea. It was a fish the size of a drakon, complete with a spiky dorsal fin and disgusting odour of polluted water – the creature could only be mythological. Not for the first time, Nico wished that he had stayed at Camp Half-Blood if only so he knew how to kill all the monsters.

Pulling his sword from his belt, Nico waded through the waves to jab at the creature's underbelly, searching for a weak spot. Its scales were the size of dustbin lids, glimmering murky green. Despite its size it thrashed around the feet-deep water, partially-submerged, apparently trying to eat Nico alive. Great. Unless he goaded it up the beach to suffocate, there was no way he could kill the thing by himself – he couldn't even see its tail. Risking a glance back, Nico saw that the guy was still face-down in the surf, not moving. Blood billowed through the surrounding water, enough that Nico suspected the fish monster had teeth, or was maybe really good at throwing people into rocks. There were squares of ambrosia in his pocket but if the guy was human then there was no point in shadow-travelling with him to a safe place. If the guy was a demigod and had somehow survived the blood loss and trauma – well, it was about to be a moot point because Nico was about to be dead too.

Just as Nico was starting to think he should leave the dead guy and shadow-travel inland to make a plan, an object whistled past Nico's ear and lodged itself underneath the monster's scales. Seizing the opportunity, Nico bounded forward and stabbed the fish in the throat (did fish have throats? It was a squishy bit and that's all Nico was interested in). Moments later the entire monster had exploded into dust and dissolved into the wind. The object wedged into its scales fell into the surf and Nico waded out to retrieve it. Up close, it wasn't a spear like he had assumed. It was a trident, made of the same Stygian iron as Nico's sword. He had never seen a weapon like it and made a mental note to ask Hades if he had done a deal with Poseidon to make a new type of weaponry.

"Don't worry about me, then," a voice rasped. Nico whirled around, almost tripping in the sand, in time to see the clearly-not-dead-or-mortal guy collapse into the surf. Splashing through the water and barely registering that the storm had subsided as soon as the giant fish dissolved, Nico grasped the demigod under the armpits and dragged him onto the beach, forcing a square of ambrosia down his throat. His hair wasn't black, like Nico had thought – it was fiery red and longer than Percy's but covered in tar, with just a few strands glimmering through the dirt. There was blood on his face – he seemed to have ripped his lip open – and blood was seeping through his t-shirt. Lacerations covered his shins and seemed to continue underneath a pair of swim trunks. The ambrosia was healing a few superficial cuts and bruises but clearly he needed medical attention. Short of taking him to Camp Half Blood, Nico didn't have a clue what to do with him.

"My mother." His eyes had opened and Nico saw with a jolt that they were the _exact_ sea green as Percy's. Either they were directly related or the gods were playing another cruel joke. "Take me to my mother. She lives near here. The beach house."

"What beach house?" But those eyes had closed again.

Nico was about to yell at the sky when he remembered that he, Reyna and Coach Hedge had passed a ramshackle cottage, right on the beach, when they had passed through. It was nondescript but kind of beautiful; one of the things that had attracted Nico to Ireland. He hadn't realised it was inhabited. Then again, they had been travelling at night and fighting off eighty monsters apiece. Picturing the cottage in his head, Nico grasped the demigod by the wrists, closed his eyes and concentrated.

May

Morris missed the Hades kid.

Morris had been out cold when they arrived home, but his mother had explained how the kid hammered on her front door, heaved Morris over the threshold, given Anne-Marie some ambrosia and shadow-travelled back to wherever he came from. Anne-Marie had been mildly affronted that her child's saviour hadn't stuck around for introductions – "I mean, I'm your mother, I should know his name!" – but he had attended to Morris with speed that probably saved his life. Now all his scratches were just scars and he could roam the sea just as he always had. Too bad he couldn't find the lip ring that had been pulled out during his fight with the fish monster.

Unfortunately, Morris' dad was still pretty pissed about the whole demigods-saving-the-world thing, so he still couldn't swim without suffering some sort of abuse from a minion. Sometimes it sucked to be an Oceanus kid – especially since most other demigods were repelled by the sight of a Titan's kid, not least one with freaky enough powers that 'he' could pretty easily become 'she' and grow a fishtail in the water. Anne-Marie said it was a gift, being so changeable… "You're like the ocean – you can transform yourself in the blink of an eye," she often told him. Still. Morris would have liked to have not-repelled the Hades kid long enough to thank him for getting him home.

The sun was out over the beach and Morris had spent the day in the sea, far out from any tourists. Retying his knotted hair and pulling on the shoes he'd hidden underneath a rock, he decided it was time to head home for the day. As he turned to trudge up the beach, the shadows around him rippled and the Hades kid materialised. To say he looked surprised to actually see Morris was an understatement.

"I thought you were dead," he spluttered, eyes widening with shock. His voice sounded rusty, like he hadn't used it for a while.

"Thanks to you I'm not." The kid was cute, and Morris wanted him to stick around long enough for introductions. "Want to find out why?"

* * *

><p><strong>I've been commissioned to do a sequel which is a little bit terrifying so please let me know what you think of this one!<strong>


	2. 20 Questions

**Coastlines: 20 Questions**

Nico

Nico's eyes widened. Was this guy _flirting_ with him? Nico had never been flirted with, so it was hard to tell, but his gut said he was. Holy Hera. Honestly, Nico thought the kid was dead. He hadn't bothered checking the Underworld because he hadn't thought anyone could survive those wounds without help from camp. He only came back to try to learn more about the fish monster.

Since the fight last January, Nico had been steadily improving his relations with both demigod camps back home. He still travelled a lot, mostly alone, but he was _slowly_ starting to get to know other half-bloods. He wanted to learn more about the international community, so to speak, so was searching out non-American heroes. It made sense to come back to Ireland. He hadn't expected any conversations though.

"Who are you?" Let's start with introductions.

"Morris Morgan Black, son of Oceanus." Oceanus? That was a new one. Most Titans preferred to breed with other Titans, assuming they were even able to break free from whichever prison the gods had chosen for them.

"Nico di Angelo, son of Hades." _Pleased to meet you._

"Pleased to meet you."

Morris smiled, and a _very_ suppressed part of Nico's brain registered that he was cute. Up close, he didn't look like Percy at all – his hair was fire-truck red, he was almost as pale as Nico and he had piercings dotted around his ears with one in his lip. He looked about a million times healthier than the average non-camp-based demigod, which Nico supposed had something to do with his Titan parentage. Maybe some monsters were too afraid to pick on him. Still, he was odd. Where had he got that trident? He was Titan spawn, technically speaking, so Nico was ready to impale him if necessary.

"So… you're not dead."

"Definitely not. Want to grab a coffee?" Nico's eyebrows shot skywards.

"Excuse me?"

"Coffee. The bean drink. Want some? I prefer to walk and talk, as opposed to talk and let monsters find me." Morris had a point. Alone Nico didn't go a day without an attack; together they didn't stand much chance. But still, this was the kid of a _Titan_ – and not the friendly one.

"Why should I trust you?" Morris smiled. Nico didn't know what type his lip piercing was exactly, but it suited him. A simple stud nestled underneath his bottom lip and drew attention to the perfect symmetry of his face. Too bad good looks didn't equal 'not evil'.

"I'm a demigod, aren't I? We're on the same team." Clearly he had no idea that until recently the Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter were very different 'teams'.

"Being a demigod doesn't make you a good person. But we should move. Somewhere neutral. Away from the sea." Morris grinned again.

"As long as it's away from the Underworld, you're on. Come on, I know a decent place inland. Let's walk and talk!"

There were lots of tourists about and the weather was decent enough that soon all Nico wanted was an iced coffee. He kept one hand on his sword, though, just in case Morris sprouted Titan tendencies and tried to murder all the mortals. They walked in silence for maybe half an hour, throwing tiny glances at one another when they thought the other person wasn't looking. Gods knew what Morris was thinking, but half of Nico's brain was working out how he could take the guy in a fight; the other half was searching for small talk.

"You don't talk much," Morris commented as they climbed a hill. "Are you one of those strong and silent types or have you seen too much war and violence to connect with civilians?"

"The second one." Nico chanced a glance in Morris' direction and saw he was smirking.

"How about we play twenty questions?"

"The parlour game?" Nico was surprised. He had played twenty questions with Hazel, but he thought it was something you did with people you knew.

"Sure. We don't trust each other and we probably have half an hour tops before another monster attacks, so we should probably get to know each other real quick. Ten questions each okay?" It didn't sound like he was asking.

"Okay…" Nico was still ready to spear the guy, but he was curious to know more about Morris. Why hadn't he gone to camp? Why did he have a Stygian iron trident? Why was he so attractive?

"I'll go first. How old are you?"

"About eighty-five." Morris raised his eyebrows and it was Nico's turn to smirk.

"I was born in 1932 and spent about seventy years in the Lotus Hotel in Las Vegas. How old are you?"

"Sixteen. Who put you in the hotel?"

"My father. He was on the losing side of World War II at the time. Why have you got a trident made of Stygian iron?"

"It was a gift from _my_ father. Were you with anyone in the hotel?"

This was turning into a rapid-fire battle of wits.

"My sister Bianca. Which side did Oceanus fight on in the First Titan War?" Trick question. Oceanus had been neutral in the first war and sided with the Titans in the second – he had wrecked Poseidon's palace and would have determined the war's outcome if Percy hadn't convinced his dad to defend Olympus. Part of Nico couldn't forgive that – and besides, he wanted to see if Morris knew his mythology from his current events.

Morris stopped in the street and stared at Nico.

"He was neutral in the first war and fought with the Titans a few years ago." He paused pointedly. "It was a war I wasn't involved with."

"Well I was, and-"

"Do you always focus on violence when you're uncomfortable," Morris interrupted, "or are you too warped to think of anything else?" Nico felt anger wash over him and had to take several deep breaths to stop skeletons from rising from the roadside to smother the Titan spawn.

"I'm too warped. Why do you ask?"

"Why did you sidestep around explaining your sister?" The ground shook a little.

"She died a few years ago, and my other sister _used_ to be dead so it isn't sidestepping, it's _hereditary_."

Morris blinked a few times and Nico got the impression that he regretted asking.

"I'm sorry. I had a sister too."

Oh. For the first time since he'd seen Morris amongst the waves, Nico felt an actual connection with him. A _human_ connection, not based upon godly parenthood or monsters.

They arrived at the café and ordered iced coffees, Morris handing over mortal money since Nico never carried any, not that US dollars would have been much use.

Wait. Was this a _date_?

Morris

"So," Morris ventured, stirring his straw absent-mindedly. "Got any cool superpowers you can show me?" Nico laughed without humour.

"You don't want to see my powers, trust me."

"What, can you create zombies or something?" Morris laughed properly, then stopped abruptly when he realised Nico wasn't smiling. "Really? You can raise the dead?"

"Sort of. Mostly I argue with them about their final resting place. How about you?" He turned those obsidian eyes to directly face Morris, who wondered if Hades kids could read your soul.

"Well, I can breathe underwater-"

"Pretty average for sea god spawn." Hm. Obviously Nico was going to need the full explanation.

"I can heal people in the water-"

"Clearly not yourself,"

"-and I can change form." Morris took a deep breath. Here was the moment of truth, when Nico either accepted him completely or rejected a freak. "Physically, I mean. I can become like a merman, like Triton. And I can change biological sex." Nico spat out a bit of coffee.

"What, like your gender? Physically?" His eyes were like saucers.

"Yep. Wanna see?" For a moment Nico looked uncertain, but he nodded. Morris grinned and shook his hair out of the ponytail it'd been tied in for practicality. "Stage one, get girly hair." Then he concentrated, letting his mind wander until it latched on to whatever part of him that was able to transform. He always had his eyes shut doing it, so when he became a she, she only knew it because Nico choked a little.

"Holy Hephaestus. Is that fully… are you?" Morris opened her eyes and grinned. She looked down and yep, she was glad she had worn a training bra that morning. "Are you changed, like in your _mind_?"

Honestly, she had never thought about it. "I don't think so. I've always been me, inside my head. I don't think my gender affects the way I think, so I've never really… _thought_ about it." She laughed a little at Nico's expression. "How many questions have we got left?"

"Uh… I think three each?"

"Okay-"

Morris never got to finish her sentence, because an ear-splitting crash rang through the hills. Nico drew his sword and Morris gripped her trident.

"Monster?"

"Monster. Fight?"

"Fight."

* * *

><p><strong>Once again, reviews would be cool, please and thank you!<strong>


	3. The Beach

**This is the first of the final three instalments of this story! I was commissioned a piece around 3000 words, but that's too much to read in one go so I'm uploading it in chapters instead. **

* * *

><p><span>Morris<span>

The noise had come from the beach they had just left, and as Nico and Morris sprinted down the hill they could hear screams from mortals.

Morris looked toward Nico and saw he had his teeth gritted with concentration. Sweat stood out on his skin, glinting underneath messy blue-black hair. He looked good, and Morris wasn't totally sure how she felt about that. He was cute, sure, but despite her initial bravado, she was nervous. They had only just met and Morris got the feeling that Nico was just as bad at relationship stuff as she was. Thankfully he hadn't freaked out too much about the gender transformation thing… Morris was glad, because she didn't often meet other demigods, but she knew that even amongst half-bloods her ability was weird.

Still, she had more important things to worry about for the moment. Now they were at the beach, Morris could see a crowd gathered at the end of a jetty. Normally mortals fled from monsters – maybe these ones were particularly clueless. The demigods pushed through the crowd, relying on the Mist to disguise their weapons as fishing nets or tourist paraphernalia.

Where was the monster? Morris hated searching them out. She preferred a straight up fight, with the outcome decided as soon as possible so she could get back to her business. She and Nico wriggled through to the front line of people, brandishing their armaments, to see-

-a child caught under a fallen piece of a jetty.

The crash they had heard from inland must have been the jetty's infrastructure cracking under the weight of so many tourists using it as a platform for crabbing and jumping into the waves. Morris, who was around six feet tall, was waist-deep in the waves – but despite the relative shallowness of the bay, several planks had broken away to form a mound of wreckage, pinning a toddler underneath. He was completely submerged, gulping in water as he struggled to move himself from the debris. He couldn't have been more than three, and Morris could sense the water claiming him. Oceanus was such a primordial god that Morris didn't enjoy the ability to commune with sea life as easily as a child of Poseidon might; she was better at controlling the waves, sensing their mood and fighting with sea monsters.

_Controlling the waves._

"Nico, keep the crowd back," she ordered, an idea flashing through her head like lightning. "I'm going to pull the water off him."

Nico nodded once like he understood. "I'll remove the planks." Morris didn't see how such a skinny teenager could have the strength to pull heavy timber from the sand but as she began to focus on the waves, willing them back out to sea, she gasped and almost lost concentration. A skeletal hand had emerged from the ground, followed by an entire skeleton. Perhaps the sand had preserved the corpse, because it still wore scraps of clothing – and judging by the smell, some flesh remained on its bones. All around the fallen jetty, a crowd of zombies pulled themselves from the ground. Some formed a barricade between the watching crowd and the demigods; others pulled the jetty away from the child, who had stopped moving.

So Nico wasn't joking about controlling the dead.

Gradually, with Morris keeping the water at bay – literally – and Nico using skeletons to manoeuvre the child free, the crowd quietened.

After what seemed an age but in reality must only have been a couple of minutes, a skeleton grasped the child under its armpits and hauled it from the water. Morris focussed again and manoeuvred the water from the child's lungs. Nico took him from the skeleton, muttered what sounded like a prayer to Hades and handed him into the outstretched arms of his hysterical mother. As the adrenaline wore off Morris could hear the wail of sirens – a mortal had called the emergency services, which meant that demigod services were no longer required. Before Morris could suggest they vacate the premises lest a bystander notice them, Nico had taken hold of her arm and pulled her into a pitch black vortex – the last thing she saw of the b each was the skeletons sinking back into the mud.


	4. The Cottage

Nico

"We're not a bad team."

They were finishing their coffee – well, a fresh cup – back at the café. Nico was exhausted after shadow-traveling and summoning so many of the dead, but he tried to keep his expression neutral and pick at his flapjack in a way that didn't suggest that hadn't eaten that day.

Morris had been shocked by the shadow-travel to say the least. When they had emerged, after a relatively short journey, into the sunlight, she had to sit down for a minute. Lightweight. Percy had wanted to go again.

But now that Morris brought the subject up, Nico realised that they _were_ a good team. He had seen enough battles to understand when fighters benefited from and needed each other, If he were an army general, he'd want himself and Morris in the same unit.

"Yeah… you fight well for someone who got beaten by a sea monster."

"I was not _beaten_… I was just a little off that day. My dad wasn't in the mood to play nice with demigods."

"Even one of his own children?" Nico was surprised. Sure, the Olympians were terrible parents by mortal standards, but usually they let their own offspring enjoy relative freedom within their own domains.

Morris shrugged. "He's pretty pissed that the Titans lost the war with the gods. He got to wreck Poseidon's game room, which was good, but then they locked up all the other Titans, which was bad. Now he can't really show his face in undersea politics, so his minions are wreaking havoc with any demigods they can find. I guess he forgot to give me a free pass." Morris shrugged again and Nico got the feeling that she wasn't sharing all the details about why she got in trouble.

"Was your sister a child of Oceanus too?" Maybe it was rude to ask so many questions, but Nico was curious and demigods knew not to wait around. Put off asking a question today, die tomorrow and spend eternity in Asphodel irritated about it.

"I actually had two sisters, but yeah, we were all Oceanus kids. Or…" she paused. "We're _mostly_ Oceanus kids. My mother's family has some demigod blood as well."

Nico was impressed. Apart from Thalia and Jason, and maybe Leo, he had never known anyone with families who were _really_ mixed up, god-wise. From Morris' tone it was clear that she had explained as much as she was comfortable discussing, so Nico changed the subject and explained that he had returned to Ireland to learn more about European demigods and monsters.

Morris nodded as he talked, sipping coffee. "Well, if you want to get to know Europe… I'd recommend starting by speaking to my mother."

Morris seemed totally comfortable around Anne-Marie, but she gave Nico the heebie-jeebies, which was saying something for a Hades kid. She looked like she was in her mid-twenties, with Morris' red hair and smile lines around eyes that were green like her son's, but more of an emerald colour than the sea green Nico had come to associate with ocean kids. Other than looking way too young to have a kid in his teens, Anne-Marie seemed to be completely normal. Or she did if you weren't a child of the Underworld.

As soon as Nico had seen Hazel in the Fields of Asphodel he had recognised her as a child of Pluto. As soon as he saw Anne-Marie he knew she was at minimum descended from a god of death. But her aura was different to Hades or Pluto. It was just as old, but Nico recognised that she had a mixture of godly blood, and not just from one set of deities. If she had caught the eye of Oceanus, one of the most primordial of all the Greek deities, she was powerful. Nico wondered if she knew just how much. "Some demigod blood," Ares' underpants. Anne-Marie was a godly time bomb… and Nico was staying in her spare room.

Then there was the unspoken undertone of death in the little house. The cottage was cheerful enough, with a beautiful view of the beach that made Nico's heart hurt. But the Black family had experienced death, and recently. He could see it in Morris' eyes when he went to speak to Anne-Marie then stopped, like he remembered something was a sore subject. He could see it in Anne-Marie's entire countenance, separate from her demigod exterior. Nico remembered that Morris had alluded to sisters who had died. Maybe there was a deeper story than the usual mortal ones of sickness or accidents. Those deaths were hard enough – gods knew, Bianca's death had been an accident – but Nico got the feeling that, like Bianca, Morris' sisters' deaths had been magical. No wonder there was enough magic in the house to give Hazel a headache.

Nico had Iris-messaged his friends the night before, explaining to Hazel that Anne-Marie was definitely not the average mortal mom (then again, neither was Sally Jackson, who would always be Nico's gauge for how mortal parents should act). Hazel had asked if there were signs of magical activity in the cottage, which of course there were. Nico could tell that just by walking across the threshold. The house had boundaries through which he had been allowed to enter. He wondered what would have happened if he been a monster.

"My best guess is that she's put up magical protection so the house is safe," Hazel had said. "Like how Camp Jupiter and Camp Half-Blood are protected by magical boundaries… if this family has as much godly blood as you think, it's probably doing you a favour."

Now, sitting in the little kitchen drinking tea, Nico could hardly see a magical house. Gods knew his upbringing had been unconventional, but to mortal eyes the cottage was entirely normal. Unless you could identify the herbs hanging from the ceiling or the symbols etched into the walls, you would think that the cottage was simply home to an eccentric, or somebody interested in paganism.

Unfortunately, Nico needed Anne-Marie's expertise. She had travelled well and knew a lot about which monsters were where. She had been the one to suggest that, since Nico and Morris had worked so well together at the beach, they should train together too. So they had spent the last two days sparring in Anne-Marie's garden, Morris back in guy form, swapping monster-fighting tips and stories. For a kid who had never been to camp, Morris had moves.

Nico's instincts told him it was time to move on, though. He had been surprised to find how much he enjoyed training with Morris, but he knew he needed to keep moving. He kept in touch with home enough to know that after Gaia had been defeated, not _all_ the monsters had gone back to Tartarus. Some were still out there and they weren't going to dissolve themselves.

He decided to speak to Morris over dinner.


	5. The Caves

**Phew, I bombarded you with chapters there! Check out Ragemoon's DeviantART or FFN profiles for more of her excellent characters, because this is the last section of my commission!**

* * *

><p><span>Morris<span>

Nico was an oddball, but Morris liked him. His sword fighting was wicked cool, not that Morris would let him know that, but Morris was intrigued by Nico's personality as well. There was more to him than met the eye and Morris decided he wanted to find out what – which was why he agreed to shadow-travel around Europe to train and fight monsters instead of staying with Anne-Marie.

He would miss home, but he got the impression Nico wasn't comfortable and besides, Morris didn't like to spend too much time in the cottage these days. Not since Erin had died too. Ana had been hard enough, but losing his other sister was almost too much to deal with. Anne-Marie needed space to grieve and deal with her own demons – maybe travelling with Nico would help Morris exorcise his.

Two weeks into the trip and Morris had realised he wasn't the only one with skeletons in his closet. Nico's skeletons were _actual_ skeletons – bones broke the surface of the ground during his nightmares. Every few days, while Morris kept watch and Nico slept, Nico would sleep talk, lost in dreams. Sometimes he mumbled about his sister, Bianca, or about being trapped – in a jar, in Tartarus, in a hotel. Morris wasn't sure what was true and he wasn't brave enough to ask, but there was one other thing Nico's terrors had shown, something Morris had more than enough experience with.

"So you're gay."

Nico sat so far back against the wall that he almost disappeared – Morris wouldn't have been surprised if he had started to shadow-travel in his anxiety. It was the end of another training day and they were in an underground lake in the UK, combining hotspots for both their powers so they could practice together. Unless Nico killed Morris, which was a distinct possibility going by his expression.

"I guess." His voice was clipped and his tone sharp.

"Well, you don't have to be gay or straight," Morris pointed out. "You could be neither."

"What's that even supposed to mean?" Hmm. Obviously the concept of bisexuality hadn't existed in the 1940s.

"Well, I had a friend who sometimes liked girls and sometimes liked guys and he got to the point where he stopped trying to analyse who he liked and why. He just enjoyed it."

Nico snorted. "That must be nice."

"What, finding lots of people attractive or enjoying finding lots of people attractive?"

"Both."

"How many people back home know?"

"One or two."

Nico seemed as haunted as Anne-Marie did when she dwelled on Ana and Erin's deaths. He had picked up a suntan from training outside, but his olive skin had turned chalky white when Morris had started talking. Morris decided he had gone as far as he dared… his Stygian trident was pretty cool, but the Hades kid really knew how to work the metal and Nico's sword arm was twitching.

"One or two… and you."

His tone was more contemplative than accusatory and Morris looked up, surprised. But Nico's eyes were glazed over, staring through the cavern wall at demons only he could see.

"Why did you never go to Camp Half-Blood?"

They were deep in Lechuguilla Caves in New Mexico, sitting with their backs against the damp wall, sharing a soda. They had travelled to America because Nico wanted to see his friends, which was fine with Morris. She wanted to meet more demigods. As usual, they had spent the day pushing each other's magical limits; Morris had levitated almost an entire lake into a wall of water, through which Nico had summoned a legion of the dead. They had to be careful not to upset the natural order of the cave too badly, partly because it would alert locals to their presence and partly because they didn't want the entire cave system to collapse. Weeks into their 'training', Nico's curiosity was clearly starting to win out over his deep distrust of all living things.

Morris smiled slightly and adjusted her bandana. She had stuck to female form lately, because she sensed that Nico was more comfortable fighting in close proximity alongside a girl than a guy. Poor kid. As long as she switched back before PMS kicked in, she was good in either form. "I don't think there is one in Europe – or if there is I was never told about it."

"Would you have liked to have gone?"

Morris considered the question for a moment, thinking back to her childhood, to Ana and Erin. Would she have chosen to grow up around all that violence? Would a camp have been any better? She had heard stories about the Battle of Manhattan and the Battle of Mount Tam.

"I don't know. Truthfully… I'm not sure I'd be welcome. I have such a lot of godly blood, of _old_ godly blood… they might not want me. I'm too powerful, when I was a child I was a liability." In the half light, Morris could see Nico's eyebrows spike into his hair. He did that a lot when she talked about her powers. "What?"

"Camp Half-Blood could have taken you. They could handle the most powerful demigods… they _have_." Morris felt a surge of irritation.

"What, am I not powerful enough for your camp? I just raised a wall of water out of _rocks_." Nico raised his hands in a defensive gesture.

"No, no, of course you're powerful. I didn't mean that. You're just not the _most_ powerful demigod I've met."

"Oh really?" Before she knew what she was doing, Morris had stood up. The lake rippled as anger washed over her and she wondered how well Nico could swim. "Want to put that to the test, zombie boy? Bring out the most powerful demigod you've met and put them in a fight with me. We'll see who's summoning rivers _then_." Nico was standing too, hands still up. It was hard to tell in the gloom, but Morris got the feeling that he hadn't meant to pick a fight. He really did know someone more powerful than she was. But now she was too angry to care. All her frustrations, all her nerves, all the crap that had been festering inside her since Erin's death bubbled to the surface. "Which minor godling does this kid belong to?"

"Poseidon."

Oh. Morris opened her mouth to apologise, but now Nico was angry too.

"He can raise hurricanes and sink ships. He has walked through _Tartarus_ and survived. He was one of the Seven who defeated Gaia and he could take you down in an instant." His voice was cold and hard, and before Morris could catch her breath he had turned into the wall and disappeared.

Great. _Now_ how was she supposed to get home?

After she had whipped the lake into a whirlpool long enough that her anger subsided, Morris was exhausted and also a little worried. She could control the lake easily but underground was Hades' domain. Her maternal grandfather, Arawn, might have been the Celtic god of the Underworld, but Morris was pretty sure he had never been worshipped in New Mexico, and she had no idea if he was on good terms with Hades. Her mythological knowledge was pretty limited, especially for someone with such "old blood"… Anne-Marie had never been hugely into explaining the family tree. Morris had always assumed it was because the more she and her sisters knew of their heritage, the more monsters they could attract. Now, trapped in an underground lake with no backup and only one weapon, Morris wondered if Anne-Marie had simply been scared of her inheritance as a demigod.

A rumble above the cave jerked her out of her reverie. It could have been mortals, but if it was a monster she couldn't even shadow-travel to the surface. She had drawn her trident and taken a deep breath when she heard a rustle directly behind her. She whipped around and almost stuck her trident up Nico's nose. Before she could open her mouth to apologise, he had pulled her into the shadows.

Nico

Nico felt bad for Morris. It was clear she regretted picking a fight. Now they were deep in the desert, somewhere in Mexico. It was beyond the realm of the gods so, hopefully, there were less monsters around. They decided to stay out under the stars, since it would be light soon, and they made camp pretty quickly.

"The son of Poseidon… he's the guy you like, isn't he?"

Morris' voice cut into Nico's thoughts like Clarisse's electric spear. No one had _ever_ guessed about Percy. Well, there was no point lying outright.

"Yeah."

"How long have you known him?"

"Longer than I've known I'm a demigod… just about. We go back a long way."

"And he doesn't like you that way?" Despite everything, Nico snorted with laughter.

"Not likely. He only has eyes for one person - his girlfriend, Annabeth." Before Nico knew what he was doing, he had outlined his entire history as a demigod; living in the 1940s, Westover Hall, losing Bianca, the Labyrinth, Percy's trip to the Styx, the Battle of Manhattan, finding Hazel, Camp Jupiter, Tartarus, Rome, Salona, Epirus, the Athena Parthenos, everything.

When he had finished, Morris applauded softly. Her hair glinted in the starlight and her eyes were as piercing as a god's.

"I thought I had a strange history."

Nico smiled without warmth. "Every demigod does. You should hear Frank's, or Luke's."

"Who?"

Now Nico really did smile. "I thought you knew about the wars. Luke Castellan was a son of Hermes…"

They ended up sharing stories until dawn. Nico looked up at the sky as the first hints of pink and gold streaked across the horizon, thinking back to his trip in Apollo's chariot all that time ago. He glanced back to the stars and thought of Bob. Then he looked back to Morris, who was starting to break camp.

They were a weird couple of demigods, even without being 'a couple'. Gods knew what his friends would make of her.

It was time to find out.

* * *

><p><strong>If you're still reading, a review would be lovely... also thank you!<strong>


	6. America

**So I guess I lied when I said this was over - Ragemoon commissioned another chapter! Enjoy!**

* * *

><p><span>Morris<span>

Piper seemed to have a better grip on Morris' feelings than Morris did, and she had only known Morris two weeks.

It was 'girls night' at Annabeth's dad's house, which apparently meant sword-fighting practice in the backyard as the sun set, making jewellery out of the gems Hazel pulled from the ground and playing mythology-based drinking games.

Annabeth's dad was pretty cool – cool enough to let five teenage girls borrow his house for the evening anyway – and Morris had to admit that San Francisco was _very_ cool. Piper had suggested that Morris hang out with her, Hazel and Annabeth that evening and since they were in California, Annabeth had persuaded Reyna to join them. Reyna was scarier than Annabeth. She looked like she was ready for a fight at any time, even dressed in jeans and a t-shirt with flowers braided into her hair (courtesy of Piper, who seemed to enjoy enforcing her role as a daughter of Aphrodite when it suited her, ie making the others squeamish).

Piper had pounced on Morris as soon as Reyna had fled to the refuge of Annabeth and Hazel's training ring, which was also Annabeth's brothers' giant trampoline. Now Morris was sat at a table littered with shot glasses, drinks and magical weapons, listening to Camp Half-Blood's resident matchmaker, who had started the conversation innocently enough.

"I like your lip piercing. What made you get it?"

"Thanks, my sister Erin did it. Her and my other sister Ana were both really into piercings, so this was my fourteenth birthday present from them."

"Were you guys close?" Piper didn't sound envious, even coming from a single-parent family – from what Nico had explained when he described his friends, Camp Half-Blood and the crew of the _Argo II _had become Piper's family.

"Yeah, they taught me how to fight and helped me to learn about my powers."

Judging from the tugging Morris felt across her scalp, Piper was using every strand of hair available. Morris had to resist the urge not to fidget. "It sounds like Nico's helping you learn about them as well."

"Yeah, he's been great." Morris swallowed for a moment, unsure how much she should admit. Nico trusted these people but she wasn't totally convinced she did. They had travelled to New York and then to California to see both camps. A fortnight into their trip, Morris loved the concept of a safe place for demigods but was less certain about the demigods themselves. She assumed the feeling was mutual. "I had no idea he was so powerful when he pulled me out of the sea."

Piper giggled. "Yeah, I heard that you needed saving from a sea monster-"

"I did not need _saving_!" Morris spluttered. "I was just… strategically outmatched."

Piper laughed properly. "That's what Percy says when Annabeth beats him in a fight. You know… you and Percy have a lot in common." The knot in Morris' stomach tightened. Did Piper mean what it sounded like she meant?

"Oh yeah?" Morris tried to keep her tone nonchalant. "How?"

"Well, you're both incredibly dangerous children of sea gods, and neither of you trust each other, and Nico is for some reason completely drawn to both of you."

Nico

Percy really wasn't sure what to make of the Oceanus kid.

Nico had known all along that they would either be best friends or mortal enemies and he didn't know if he wanted to be around when they decided which. He still wasn't sure how he felt about Percy, even after all that time away from America, but Nico definitely didn't want either of his friends to hurt each other.

They were hanging out on Long Island Sound, just a load of people from Camp Half-Blood and a few visitors from Camp Jupiter. Since they had defeated Gaia, it was pretty common for campers to travel across the country to see each other. Nico had shadow-travelled back for the evening because Hazel had told him they were having a 'girls night'. She had sounded almost as suspicious of the concept as Nico was… still, as long as none of them joined the Hunters of Artemis at the end of the evening, he guessed he could stand to hang out at Camp Half-Blood.

Clarisse La Rue had challenged Frank Zhang to a wrestling fight on the beach. Clarisse had been winning until Frank turned into a panda, which made Clarisse have approximately six heart attacks. Leo had actually fallen over laughing, and Nico could see Jason struggling to maintain his usually calm exterior. Only Percy wasn't paying attention – he was staring out at the waves like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. Again.

"Hey, can I speak to you?" Before Nico had fully processed what he was doing, he had strode up to Percy and pointed down to a quieter stretch of beach.

To say Percy looked surprised was an understatement. Their relationship had never been the most normal, and although Percy didn't know about That (as Nico privately called it), he was smart enough to grasp that Nico wanted to avoid him. "Yeah, sure," he said after a moment. "Lead the way, man."

* * *

><p>"What's up?" Percy asked when they were standing at the edge of the waves. Nico took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of saltwater which, given their proximity, could have come from Percy just as easily as it did the sea.<p>

"I wanted to know what you thought of my friend Morris," Nico explained, choosing his words carefully. "I know you didn't exactly hit it off, and I wanted to know if it's because you think she's dangerous."

Percy scratched his head. "I think she's, uh… should I say he?" As soon as Nico had lead Morris up Half-Blood Hill to Thalia's tree and given her permission to enter camp, Morris had been viewed as an oddity. Chiron had been intrigued on a professional level, of course, and had even offered Morris private lessons, like he had with the old heroes. Annabeth was clearly _trying_ not to be jealous. Morris had demonstrated what she could do, including her gender transformation, at the campfire. Some demigods had been impressed – Leo thought it was the best thing ever – others had viewed the newcomer with suspicion. Percy had been one of them.

Nico smiled briefly. "She was a girl last time I saw her."

"Well, uh, I think she's dangerous. Oceanus nearly destroyed my dad's domain, you know? I'm not sure if we can trust her."

Nico nodded thoughtfully. An idea bubbled to the surface of his brain and before he could change his mind he said, "Let's find out." He grasped Percy's arm and stepped into the nearest shadow.

Morris

"Hey," a voice said. "Can I speak to you a moment please?" Morris nearly impaled Nico with her trident again. He just _appeared_ at her shoulder, emerging from the shadows as Morris watched Annabeth and Hazel in a swordfight against Piper and Reyna. They were all so talented it was hard to call the winning side. Just as Morris was about to make a comment about Nico's creepiness, she noticed he had brought a friend.

"Uh, hey," she said to Percy, trying not to let her fear show. Percy was _so powerful_ she wasn't sure how to act around him.

"Hey," he replied, eyes inscrutable in the darkness. "Mind if we go down to the seashore for a little bit?"

Morris barely had time to nod before Nico had taken hold of them both and whisked them to the water's edge.

"Nico, what's going on?"

"I want you two to talk. I don't care what you're problem with each other is, but if we're all going to be on the same team we need to be able to work together cohesively."

"Who said anything about being a team?"

Morris and Percy had spoken simultaneously, spitting their words defensively.

Morris was vaguely aware that the water beside them was bubbling, but she wasn't sure if it was her doing or Percy's.

Nico motioned to the waves. "There is a problem. You don't trust each other... you don't understand each other's powers."

"I can show you mine."

Morris wasn't sure if she was being smart or suicidal, but she waded out into the water until she was waist-deep.

"Come and play, Percy Jackson."

* * *

><p>Later Nico said the waves reached the top of the Golden Gate Bridge. Morris didn't remember much, but sitting on Annabeth's trampoline nibbling a square of ambrosia, she kept getting flashbacks: striding down to the depths of the Bay, transforming quick as lightning, manipulating oxygen and water to create whirlpools and towers of water. Hopefully Hecate was on form with the Mist, because there was no way the mortals could pass it off as an ordinary tidal event.<p>

Percy sat next to her, sheepish from the dressing-down he had received from Annabeth. "She's a newcomer, Percy, what were you thinking? You could have really hurt each other and we don't have enough magical protection here to keep the monsters away for long so you've probably just sent up a flare for them all to come find us. What were you _thinking_?"

"We were thinking we needed to get to know each other better."

Morris stood up and faced Annabeth and Percy directly. She glanced at Nico for support and was surprised to see him smiling slightly, almost submerged in darkness. Her heart jumped slightly, which was going to need some thinking about.

"Have you?" Annabeth asked.

Morris and Percy looked each other in the - creepily identical - eyes.

"I think so," Morris replied, "but I think I'll stick around a while to make sure."

* * *

><p><strong>Reviews appreciated, as always. I won't say this is the end just in case it isn't, but if it is then thanks for finishing the story. :)<strong>


	7. English Channel

**...and they're back. Cerulean edited this for me, woohoo and thank you. Uploading this and the next three instalments separately because although individually they're short, together they were too long and I liked the way it split up.**

* * *

><p><span>Morris<span>

Morris was nervous, and she didn't know why.

Things had been going well; she had been making friends, killing monsters and nearly dying on a regular basis now for several months. Nico had shadow-travelled with her to and from Europe several times to see Anne-Marie, who was pleased her daughter was finally making friends who weren't fish.

Oh, and Annabeth had made Percy and Morris watch _Finding Nemo_, so the concept of fish as friends made Morris smile every time she considered it.

So all in all, things _were_ going well.

Until the day Nico nearly drowned.

It was a stormy afternoon in the English Channel, which they had reached by mistake while tracking a gryphon. The gryphon had scooped them up—one in each claw—and barrelled through grey clouds to France. Until Nico had stabbed it in the _podex_. Then it had screeched louder than the fog horns of the ships far below, dropped the demigods and continued to the Continent. Unfortunately, Morris had been so shocked by the sudden fall that she only had time to warp the water as they hit it, which was like being punched in the face by an automaton (and she should know).

Morris' vision blacked out for a moment as she channelled all her energy towards moulding the waves into a protective blanket. She vaguely remembered hearing that the English Channel was the busiest seaway in the world, and underwater she could hear the humming of tankers, trawlers and tourist ferries. Sea god senses ensured she could hear perfectly and the noise was disorientating; as she thrashed about in the water trying to get her bearings, she spared a thought for the sea life. If she had to live down here, she decided, she would stockpile migraine medicine.

When her head broke the surface and she could tread water, she scanned the rainy horizon for the closest landmark, knowing that in such a busy area and cold temperatures she and Nico didn't have long before they were in trouble.

Nico.

In her confusion she had forgotten to wrap him in an air bubble. The manipulated waves had cushioned his fall, sure, but now he was face-down and unmoving.

Morris swore loudly and immediately pulled him under the surface into an air pocket. He was unconscious, his sword loose in his limp hand.

"Nico! Wake up!" Morris shook him, wishing she had paid attention to mortals' lessons about drowning. She had never bothered to listen properly.

Right. Think, Morris. Chances were that his lungs were full of water. So she had to remove the water… ew. Concentrating hard—the noise from the boats really was annoying—Morris manoeuvred Nico onto his side and pulled the water from his lungs until he coughed it all out. Gross.

"Are you okay?" Morris demanded, gingerly moving him upright. He was staring at a space behind her, eyes glassy.

"Boat," Nico rasped.

"Yeah, we should probably find one and hitch a lift home."

"No. _Boat_."

Nico grasped Morris around her waist and pulled them to one side and Morris understood what was happening almost too late. The thunderous roar of a foghorn sounded above them as the engine noise of a boat reached deafening proportions. Sending a prayer to Oceanus, Morris used a current to buffet their air pocket several feet through the waves. Less than a second after they had moved, the prow of an oil tanker cut through the water where they had just been floating. Her world rocked as Morris struggled to keep the air pouch secure; streams of tiny bubbles cascaded around them as the tanker continued on its journey, its inhabitants completely unaware that they had almost impaled a couple of demigods. Some figurehead.

Morris' heart was beating so fast that it took a minute for her to recover her composure. She and Nico were still clinging to each other, breathing hard.

"We should find a boat before the oxygen runs out," puffed Nico. "I need to rest before I shadow-travel us home."

"Mm-hm." Morris was still processing the shock of nearly killing her best friend. If she returned home and the other demigods learnt that she let somebody drown, she would have her licence revoked. Plus, this was _Nico_. She was only allowed to try to kill him when he pissed her off. Gradually, as her breathing returned to normal and the world stopped spinning, Morris realized that she didn't actually want to let go of Nico's waist.

Damnit. Things had been going _so_ well.


	8. Camp

Nico

"She almost let you _drown_?"

Percy was about to start spitting saltwater. It was the camp counsellor meeting and Nico had been explaining the incident with the gryphon. Truthfully, he had only brought up the almost-dying thing because they hadn't finished tracking the gryphon to its nest. Magical creatures had been as restless as monsters since Gaia's uprising, probably because she had tried to crap all over their habitat. Demigods across the world were trying to restore the equilibrium even if it meant venturing the Mare Nostrum or bandying swords with Shrimpzilla. Leo had started handing out free jars of Greek fire to anyone who took a trip to the Atlantic.

"She saved my life," Nico corrected. "If there hadn't been someone there who could control water, I definitely would have drowned."

Percy didn't look convinced, but he didn't pursue the matter. Possibly because Annabeth was giving him a look. Possibly because ever since their San Francisco water display, Percy and Morris had given each other a respectful amount of space. Nico knew that Morris wanted to get to know Percy better on a human—ha—level because they were both sea god spawn, but Percy wasn't sure he could trust Morris. Nico hoped it was because his own track record of helping Percy out was patchy at best. Gods knew he wasn't exactly known for having trustworthy friends. Or any friends.

Hazel liked Morris though, which meant a lot. She and Frank were back at Camp Jupiter and Percy and Annabeth were joining them later that day. One thing Nico did not miss about the Twelfth Legion was their insistence that everyone upheld the rules and praetors attend every senate meeting, but these days it was totally normal for demigods from one camp to hang out in another… presuming they upheld the rules. Percy had so far broken most of Camp Jupiter's, which Reyna wasn't pleased about. Apparently she had given him a talking-to about how he was supposed to set the example, not _be_ the example. Morris had already decided she preferred Camp Half-Blood, although the campers hadn't all decided they liked her.

Chiron motioned Nico aside after the group had broken up. "Give the campers some time to warm up to Morris," he suggested gently. "They have been through a lot these last few years. It's only natural that they should be suspicious."

"I know." Nico liked Chiron the best out of all the camp leaders, except maybe Frank. Chiron knew almost exactly what to say to help you find the solution to a problem by yourself and didn't make a big deal out of his students' struggles. He had been coaching Morris one-on-one, catching her up on some of the skills and knowledge she had missed during her childhood.

Morris herself had gone to train after the meeting ended. She attended camp classes with the other demigods as much as possible. She liked meeting other half-bloods and she had been far more in control of her powers and her temper since staying at camp. She had even played war games with the demigods at Camp Jupiter and avoided actually killing anyone, while ensuring the Fifth Cohort an easy victory (she summoned a raincloud from the valley and dispersed it as foggy rain to confuse their opponents. Technically speaking, she wasn't supposed to impede upon Jupiter's domain, but, technically speaking, Oceanus was older than Jupiter and the gods were clearly having an off-day, because all they did was charge the rain with static electricity so everyone on the field was given a mini-shock via drizzle).

"Why don't you take some time away from the camps?" Chiron suggested, reading Nico's thoughts. "Go back to Europe and continue tracking gryphons. Or take some time off."

"Some… time off?" Nico couldn't comprehend what he was hearing. Demigods couldn't take time off because if they did, usually that was when they died. Gruesomely. At the hands of a monster.

Chiron's eyes sparkled. "Yes. After all… if you want to get to know European demigods and monsters, you should start by getting to know Europe."

* * *

><p>Bahaha so short and sweet. Thanks again to Cerulaen (whose name I misspelt in the last chapter)!<p> 


	9. London

Morris

"London." Morris found her voice, but it caught in her throat. "You brought me to London."

"Yeah. There's a museum exhibit I want to see." Morris smiled at the total lack of awareness in Nico's words. He really had no idea how _cool_ it was to shadow-travel to London for the afternoon.

"Have you ever been here before?" Growing up on the Irish coast, Morris had always wanted to visit the big local cities—Dublin, Belfast, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and London—but life had gotten in the way. Until she met Nico, the most exciting travels she had experienced had been in the sea. Thinking back, she had probably been to a lot of countries without realizing it because she had rarely wanted to leave the water. Nico had a lot to answer for.

"Once or twice. Demigod travels." Nico smiled briefly.

The exhibit turned out to be in the British Museum, which was one of the most awe-inspiring buildings Morris had ever seen. It was a mixture of vast stone columns and modern glass, which seemed fitting for a building that housed such old objects. The exhibition itself was about Egyptian mummies. Reading about Ancient Egyptian beliefs made Morris queasy. She had just started to wrap her head around the pantheon of gods who she was related to… if the Egyptian gods were real as well, she was going to demand to speak to the manager of the universe.

Morris had never pegged Nico as an academic type (she had never seen him sit still for long), but he was absorbed in each artefact. "I like seeing old civilizational stuff," he said with a shrug when Morris asked him about it. "It kind of confirms that I haven't totally invented my family tree... or my life."

They spent the evening meandering around central London, trying to remember the names of landmarks and look normal. Hazel had learnt a little trick with the Mist where she could cover people in a layer of magic, ensuring extra invisibility from mortal—and hopefully monster—senses. Both Morris and Nico were fully expecting a fight at some point (they had seen a group of trolls under a bridge in Camden and harpies nesting at the top of the Shard), but until then, Morris was personally okay with taking time to see the sights, even if it was the end of October and getting cold out.

It wasn't until dinner that things went wrong.

Morris was leaning on a stone wall overlooking the River Thames, wondering how disgusting it would be to swim in. They bought chips from a vendor and wandered the riverside, taking in the sight of the city at night. Lights were flickering everywhere and traffic was humming as commuters headed home for the evening and students headed out for it. Far above them Tower Bridge glowed like an enormous Christmas decoration, while the Eye was lit up in neon like a giant punk hamster wheel. Suddenly, Nico stiffened beside her, dropping the chip carton against the wall. He caught Morris' eye and moved his eyebrows in a way she had come to understand meant "danger." Morris wasn't immediately sure where the threat was coming from. Then she noticed the pigeons.

London was full of them and she hadn't taken much notice all day except to laugh when a toddler ran through a flock and was promptly admonished by his mother. As darkness fell most of them went to roost on buildings that hadn't been bird-proofed by spikes or wire. Some pigeons had chosen to sit on a string of lights that hung from streetlamps, directly above Nico and Morris. A light bulb flickered and shorted out, which wasn't unusual. What _was_ unusual was that the pigeon sitting on top of the bulb was briefly lit up like a cartoon getting electrocuted. Morris could see every bone and feather for a split second before the power tripped out. Instead of pitching off its perch like a normal pigeon, this one stayed right where it was and made a metallic cooing sound.

Stymphalian birds.

Almost imperceptibly Morris put her hand on Nico's wrist. She leaned into his shoulder, looking for all the world like a girl about to kiss her boyfriend. "When I say jump, jump," she murmured. Placing an arm around his shoulder, she gradually climbed up onto the stone wall, praying Hazel's mist was working. She pulled Nico up with her and planted both hands firmly round his waist. There was no way she was taking chances this time. Now that they were close to the Stymphalian birds, she could see that they were entirely metallic, with bronze beaks and glowing eyes. One rustled its feathers and Morris guessed they had two seconds or less before they were dive-bombed. Taking a deep breath, Morris summoned the Thames up its banks, pulling it into a deep whirlpool directly beneath the wall.

The Stymphalian birds took flight.

"Jump."

* * *

><p><strong>Not gonna lie, that right there was why I wanted to split this into little bits. CLIFFHANGERS!<strong>

**Except I'm going to post the next bit right away.**

**(Thank you Cerulaen.)**


	10. The Thames

Nico

Nico was going to have a word with Morris about her landings. She had gotten them literally into deep water twice in two weeks, and both times Nico felt he was doing an extreme version of the ice bucket challenge. Nico held his breath as he leapt, given Morris' track record. It turned out to be a good idea because for a long moment, all she could do was concentrate on manipulating the river so it gave them enough cover from the Stymphalian birds.

Nico closed his eyes against the water, which didn't look any cleaner under the surface than it did from land. The whirlpool became so ferocious that he was knocked out of Morris' grasp and he gritted his teeth, determined not to lose consciousness again. Too bad he was running out of oxygen.

Suddenly air washed over him, which was a strange sensation to say the least. "You can open your eyes," said a voice and Nico blinked to see that they were standing on the bottom of the river, Morris holding out Nico's sword. "This came loose from your belt when we jumped in."

"Thanks." Nico took his sword and noticed that Morris was back in guy form. "Uh… what happened?"

"There was a tourist boat coming along at the same time we jumped. I had to keep the Stymphalian birds away from us and the boat, and keep you alive. I turned into a merperson for a moment and wasn't really thinking when I changed back. I can transform again, though…?" So he had noticed that Nico kind of had a thing about that.

"It's fine," Nico managed. "Just be yourself."

Morris grinned and ran a hand through his hair. He had lost his bandana, and in the near-darkness his hair looked like molten copper. "We should get back to the surface," he suggested after a moment. "I'm not sure what's down here."

"Yeah…" Nico took a breath to gather his courage. "Actually, I think we should stay here a minute."

"Why?" Judging by his face, Morris was as keen on staying in the freezing, murky depths as Nico was. But Nico had remembered something, and now was as good a time as any to bring it up.

"Well, it's your birthday, isn't it? I want to give you your present." To say Morris looked surprised was an understatement. Demigods didn't _do_ birthdays, unless they were at camp. To be honest, Nico wouldn't have remembered if he hadn't seen a hoard of trick-or-treaters traipsing alongside the riverbank that evening. Morris didn't seem to have noticed them or remembered that his birthday was on Halloween.

"Seriously, though? _Here_?"

"Yep." Before he could wimp out, Nico stepped forward and kissed him full-on the mouth.

Morris almost lost concentration and drowned them both.

* * *

><p><strong>Smoochies, as they say.<strong>

**Mine are directed to Cerulaen for the editing and Ragemoon for being such a lovely client and having fun characters to play with.**


	11. Delphi

**And so Ragemoon decreed some more chapters...**

* * *

><p><span>Nico<span>

"Babe," Morris said as he sipped iced coffee from a beer glass, "I can't believe you brought me to _Greece_."

Nico didn't smile. "Don't call me 'babe'. And I didn't bring you. The gods brought all of us." Nico saw his boyfriend's face falter and immediately felt guilty. "I'm sorry," he said at once. He leant close to Morris and kissed him on the cheek, inhaling his salty scent for the millionth time. "I'm just stressed," he confessed. "I haven't been on a quest this big since we brought the Athena Parthenos home."

He wasn't being entirely truthful, but he couldn't bring himself to explain further. _He_ wasn't even sure what was wrong with him. Maybe he was paranoid. He had enjoyed months of happiness, more than most demigods got in a lifetime. In the eight months since he had taken the world's grossest risk and kissed Morris under the sewage of the River Thames, he had finally found a home at Camp Half-Blood. Sure, the other kids pissed him off sometimes, he had to see Percy, and occasionally he had to perform burial rites on a heroically-killed demigod, but his life was better than he could ever remember it being—or at least, since he was very small.

So what was wrong with him?

Long after Morris had kissed him properly, tasting of coffee and stubble and the ocean, then walked back to HQ toting dirty crockery, Nico was still sitting, so still he almost melted into the lengthening shadows as he stared into the horizon.

As far as good views went, this was one of them. Several miles down the mountain, orange in the sunset, was the remains of the Temple of Delphi. Columns stretched upwards, supporting nothing but stone blocks; circular steps led to platforms which used to be indoors; grass and trees crept up into the rubble, reclaiming the stone. The ancient Greeks had named it _axis mundi_, the centre of the earth, believing it to be the spot where the points of the compass met and the connection between earth and the heavens was strongest.

It would have been postcard-perfect if not for the giant snake twisted around the ruins.

Python was an 'earth dragon', who in ancient times guarded the centre of the earth. Then Apollo came along, liked Delphi as a holiday home and killed Python, opening Delphi as a hotspot for talking to the gods. A woman would listen to the spirits and murmurings of the gods and would interpret them accordingly. Rachel Dare's predecessors, basically. Of course, Gaia in her role as Evil Earth Mother Extraordinaire had resurrected Python—he had after all guarded the centre of Her—and plopped him back in his old stomping ground, effectively blocking the magic of Delphi.

Maybe the quest _was_ bothering Nico.

It was the first big one since the War; a bunch of Apollo campers plus Nico the Spirit Guide and his favourite hand luggage. Rachel Dare was fed up with being jobless and the Sibylline Books weren't as helpful—or precise—as they'd thought. So Chiron had spoken with the gods and it had been agreed to send a crack squad out to Delphi, to slay Python and release the magic. Nico got to go because he was "experienced in dealing with the Mediterranean" and "good at talking to dead people, which there will be loads of because Greece is really old." Eloquent, Percy.

Nico missed Reyna. Even though he had been across the world and back with Morris, he felt odd being in this part of Europe without her and Coach Hedge. This quest even had Phoebe the Huntress's magic tent. His 'comrades' were decent, but Nico's gut instinct was that something bad was about to happen, and he hated not knowing what.

_Well_, he decided, standing up and brushing earth off his jeans, _no time like the present to find out. _

"Guys," he explained when he got back to the others, "I'm going down to Delphi. I want to check out the spirits."

"At night?" demanded one of the Apollo kids. "Isn't that a bit stupid, since we're kids of the sun god?"

"I'm not," Nico pointed out. "Python won't be expecting a visit at night, especially not one from the Underworld dude. Plus I only want to get close enough that I can sense the magic. I'm not stupid enough to face Python on my own."

Ignoring everyone's protests, he leant backwards into a shadow and tried to focus.

"Show off," he heard an Apollo camper mutter.


	12. Emergency Room

**In which Francesca tries to reconcile the events of _Blood of Olympus_ with a previously-written fan fiction.**

* * *

><p><span>Will<span>

Will had always been intrigued by the Hades kid. Maybe it was the weird aura of death that surrounded him, maybe it was his tendency to melt in and out of the shadows, maybe it was his liquid chocolate eyes. So when Chiron had decreed a quest and announced that as many Apollo kids as possible were to go to Delphi with Nico and his Titan-spawn boyfriend, Will said okay. He would have gone anyway, partly because he was head counsellor for Apollo and his dad's shrine was being used as a squatting base for a massive dragon, and partly because he was the camp's best healer.

Only one of the Apollo kids from Camp Jupiter had volunteered, possibly because very few of his children or legacies were willing to admit they were related to Octavian. But Georgina Fernandez had arrived at Camp Half-Blood toting a rucksack and wicked archery skills, her mahogany hair pulled up in a bandana and a sharp tongue reserved for anyone who asked if she and Octavian shared a room growing up.

"I'm Apollo's _daughter_, not his legacy," Georgina explained when an arrow was protruding from the hole in Connor Stoll's left ear, which he usually reserved for jewellery. "I met the little bastard once and he nearly wet himself when I shredded his teddy bears faster than he could."

"Remind me not to get on the wrong side of _her_," Morris grinned as he watched Connor run around wearing the world's stupidest earring. "I don't know if my piercings could survive getting accessorised with arrows."

His lip stud glinted in the sunlight, almost as bright as the mess of red hair he kept tied back. He was going on the quest because Nico was going, and Nico was going because someone needed to talk to the spirits around Delphi… and perform burial rites if one of the demigods died.

Will knew it was wrong, but he always struggled a little with Morris. It wasn't so much his soft Irish accent or his freaky ability to shape shift as it was the fact that his dad was a Titan. Will had personally healed injuries caused by Titans in the Battle of Manhattan, and he couldn't just forget how much damage they had wrecked. If Oceanus could nearly defeat Poseidon, how powerful was Morris? Will had heard rumours that he had godly blood on _both_ sides of his family and wondered more than once if Camp Jupiter might have been a better training ground. But he was joined at the hip (sometimes literally) with Nico, so for now they were staying in New York.

Except when they made super-duper dangerous journeys across the Atlantic to the Mediterranean to kill a giant snake.

Amazingly, the little group had made it to Greece with minimal damage. Nico had been twitchy the whole way there, no doubt reliving his experiences from the Giant War. Morris kept him sane, talking to him quietly and never leaving his side. Very few monsters attacked, possibly because they had chosen to travel in a commercial jet, not a demigod war machine. When the crew made it to Delphi with zero casualties, every one of them—Will, Georgina, Nico, Morris and Will's other sister from Camp Half-Blood, Rose—had said a prayer to the gods. Clearly, Jason's shrine-making had Zeus on his best behaviour.

Or maybe he was waiting for the chips to fall.

Half a mile from the shrine of Delphi, way up a steep mountain, the demigods set up camp and scouted the area, checking and re-checking their supplies. Trying to avoid the thought of being so close to 'the centre of Gaia'.

Nico was gone hours, and eventually everyone retreated into their own work while they waited for him to do his "Underworld stuff." Will had almost no idea what that actually entailed. He preferred not to ask. Morris was asleep, in a rare moment of being apart from his boyfriend—so when Nico fell out of the shadows, Will was the one to catch him.

"Holy Hera, di Angelo, what were you _thinking_?" As soon as he touched Nico, Will realised that shadow-travel was far more dangerous than Nico had ever let on. He was literally dissolving into darkness as he stood there, and Will had no idea what to do as a remedy.

"Anchor me to the light," Nico mumbled. He was almost translucent, but his eyes were focused. _This has happened before,_ Will realised.

"Okay, Nico, how do I do that?" Always keep a patient talking. If they could talk, they could come back to you.

"You're molten sunlight," Nico murmured, hanging on to Wills arms to keep upright. "It's kind of easy with you." Okay. It wasn't every day Will got called "molten sunlight" by a very attractive person.

"Okay, thanks, Nico, but I'm going to need more solid information. How do I anchor you to… to light?"

But Nico was fading into the night and Will wouldn't even be able to touch him much longer.

Ah.

"Morris, I'm really, really sorry about this."

Taking a deep breath, Will said a quick prayer to the gods then kissed Nico on the mouth. He made sure he had one hand round Nico's shoulders and another in his hair, and kept his eyes closed for a good minute, just in case he had guessed wrong and was actually kissing thin air.

When he was brave enough to open them, he nearly fell over in shock. Nico was himself again, those chocolate eyes wide open in surprise, but best—or worst—of all, he was kissing Will back.

Oops.

Will broke contact, keeping his hands on Nico just in case he started to dissolve again. But although he was swaying on his feet, it didn't seem to be from shadow-travel.

Oops oops.

Before either of them had a chance to say anything, there was a sound from the doorway of Phoebe the Huntress's magic tent. Morris was standing there, frozen in shock.

Oops oops oops.


	13. Plan of Attack

Morris

Georgina found him at the very edge of the mountain.

There was no water to submerge himself into, no island on which to hide. Plus Georgina had really excellent eyesight. She had probably followed him down the rocky slope, one hand on her bow so she could shoot him if he did anything stupid. Python was only a few miles away now, but he was big enough that they could see he was fast asleep. Morris wasn't sure why he had purposefully come so near to danger—maybe he was vying for a fight. He realised that Python was kind of a snake _and_ a dragon. He had heard him described both ways and wasn't sure why nobody had thought up a more specific term. But he was bright green, with a tail like a snake's but with the head and body—and wings—of a dragon. He could probably breathe fire. Morris decided not to think about that.

"So," Georgina said, plopping herself down on the gravel next to him. "Your boyfriend kissed some other guy."

Georgina was five foot zero, wore bright striped socks underneath her combat boots, and listened to Boy George constantly on the journey over. Too bad she was stronger than she looked, or Morris would have been tempted to attempt murder.

As it was, he just looked at her with no attempt to disguise his dislike that she was intruding on a private moment. Georgina just shrugged, unabashed.

"At least you didn't catch your girlfriend kissing some other guy."

Morris laughed, which felt hollow. "Yeah, because that would be such a bad—" he fell silent at the look on her face.

Maybe she wasn't such bad company after all.

"You know," Georgina said after a few minutes' silence. "It could be worse."

"Could it?" ad

Had _she_ moved to another continent for somebody she loved? Was _she_ treated with suspicion because of her godly parent?

"Yeah."

"All right, sunshine girl, enlighten me."

"We could be getting attacked by monsters," Georgina suggested. "But we're not, because Python's keeping them at bay. Your dad might have been turned into glitter by Zeus, but he wasn't, because he's snug at the bottom of the ocean. Your boyfriend might have cheated on you, but he didn't, because he didn't ask to get kissed by Will Solace. He asked a healer to keep him anchored to the living world to stop himself from dissolving into a puddle of Underworld ink."

"What?"

"I was there." Georgina didn't look like she was getting any joy from gossiping. She just looked like she was trying to glue a team back together. "Sitting in a tree, cleaning my bow. Nico shadow-travelled back to camp and it's really dangerous for him and Will happened to be the one who caught him and he did what he had to do to keep Nico alive. You should thank him."

Morris didn't know how to respond. He knew that Nico occasionally had trouble shadow-travelling, but he thought it was an old problem, one he had under control. If Georgina was telling the truth, it would explain why Will and Nico had pulled hastily apart, both talking at a hundred miles an hour, calling Morris back as he stormed off. Course, it would also mean that Morris was acting like a total idiot, and Morris didn't fancy admitting that yet.

* * *

><p><span>Nico<span>

So now Nico was boyfriend-less. A year ago the concept wouldn't have seemed anything but inevitable; now he thought he understood why the Aphrodite cabin dished out ice cream to the recently-split-up.

Morris made it clear that he didn't want anyone to follow him down the mountain, but Georgina dropped out of a nearby tree and went anyway. Well, good luck to her, Nico thought. He'd be doing burial rites in no time.

"Okay, everyone, we need to make a plan." Will Solace jarred Nico out of his thoughts (he seemed to be good at that) and motioned everyone to sit around the table. Nico was about to protest that two of their party was missing when he saw Morris and Georgina slip into the room. Neither of them said anything, but Morris looked at Nico for a moment then nodded. At Nico? To himself? Gods, he was frustrating.

"We have two choices," Will was saying. Nico blinked and forced himself to make eye contact with him while simultaneously berating himself for finding him attractive. "We can attack Python in direct sunlight, when we're strongest, or at night, when he's less likely to sense us coming."

"He already knows we're here." Nico spoke up, partly to distract himself from his thoughts. "I got within half a mile of the Temple and the spirits basically said 'get out while you can'. Python didn't look like he sensed me, so I sent in a couple of skeletons to check. He incinerated them without even opening his eyes. I think he's like Gaia was—pretty much comatose but conscious enough to wake if we provoke him."

"So we may as well attack in the middle of the day," Rose concluded, nodding. She had skin the colour of black coffee, but her hair was as blonde as her brother's. She had Apollo's gift for music, was rarely away from some instrument or another, and had brought a tiny lyre with her. She played it constantly and it filled the tent with background noise that complimented, rather than clashed with, the sounds from outside. The lyre seemed to be joining in with the chirp of cicadas and the rustle of the breeze. Nico found himself wanting to stay in the tent and listen forever, which gave him an idea.

"Do you think we could lull him into a deeper sleep with your music?" he asked. "Then Georgina, Will, Morris and I could attack on all sides."

"I'm a medic," Will objected. "How can I attack if I'm keeping you all from dying?"

"Do your ultrasonic whistle," Nico suggested. "It's definitely a weapon."

Everyone who had heard Will's whistle—which was everyone—smiled. Well, Morris looked like he was undergoing a painful dental procedure, but it was a start.

Hopefully.

As the group sat round the table in a manner very reminiscent of the rec room back home, arguing over a plan of attack, Nico was scared to properly look at his boyfriend. The few times they caught each other's eye, Morris looked away. _Why_ had he kissed Will back? It was only a moment, a hardly tangible moment, but he had. Maybe he was too young to be in a serious relationship. Maybe this was a sign that he and Morris should take things more slowly, maybe see other people.

Maybe, subconsciously, that was what had been bothering him all quest long. Returning to Europe reminded him of making friends with Reyna, of Coach Hedge and Mellie and their tiny kid. He thought of when they returned home, how he had _almost_ stayed at Camp Half-Blood, until a fit of anxiety sent him travelling again. Then he had met Morris.

Nico decided that if—_when_ they defeated Python—he would confront Morris, with Jules-Albert as a backup if necessary, and explain everything. Morris might understand. If that went wrong, he found himself deciding, he owed Camp Jupiter a long visit.

* * *

><p><strong>Ahh the suspense... reviews would be good thank you!<strong>


	14. Never Pat a Sleeping Dragon

Nico

Georgina was perched at the top of one of Delphi's columns.

Rose was tucked behind a piece of stonework, guarded by a handful of skeletons.

Morris and Nico were camouflaged and working their way toward Python, flanked by a legion of skeletons.

Will was behind a separate column, ordering and re-ordering medical supplies as he waited for the inevitable.

When Rose started playing, it took a lot of self-control for Nico not to fall asleep, too. Will's kiss had worked quite literal magic, but he could feel his strength sapping the longer he willed the skeletons forward. If the ambush became a battle, he might be in danger of needing another kiss.

He decided not to think about that.

Python's eyes had been closed, his tail flicking like a dog chasing rabbits in its sleep. But gradually, as the demigods advanced, the 'earth dragon' looked for all the world like a coma patient. Nico found himself wondering what would happen if Rose's music teamed up with Piper's charmspeak.

So swiftly he wouldn't have noticed if he hadn't been listening out, Nico heard Georgina's first arrow fly over his head. It landed diagonally to her perch; the furthest part of the net. Quick as a flash she let loose two dozen others, all rigged with Cabin Nine's favourite unbreakable wire. Rose's music never wavered, so if things had gone to plan any one of them could have lopped off Python's head.

Of course, that was when he chose to let out an enormous snore.

As loud as an earthquake, the noise reverberated through the mountains, causing Georgina's arrows to sway in the ground. The net creaked and that—or his own snores—woke Python up.

He was not amused to find himself trapped. With a roar he sent out a hurricane of fire that engulfed Rose's hiding place. Her music stopped with a shriek and Will was immediately there, running through the inferno (note to self: skeletons fuel dragon fire).

"Guys! Get in quick!" Georgina yelled. Her column was swaying dangerously; she had shimmied up one as close to Python as possible, but she was almost thrown off as Python thrashed under the net. Morris, the skeletons and Nico bounded forward, slashing and stabbing every part of the dragon they could reach, but Nico realised too late that they were only angering Python, fuelling his rage with pain. Georgina managed to send two arrows through each eye before jumping off her column and landing on a stone slab as easily as jumping the last step from a staircase.

She sent more arrows out at close range but was soon literally in the firing line—then Will was there, wielding a knife—Nico and Morris had to retreat; the skeletons were fading and so was Nico—where was Rose? Had she survived?—Georgina was out of arrows and Python was almost free of the net, clawing at her—his tail nearly crushed Morris, catching him in the ribs—Nico was dissolving into the shadows again—

With a yell, Will ran close enough to Python to decapitate his head in one swift motion, but not before he too was submerged in flames—

Nico blacked out.

* * *

><p><span>Morris<span>

When he realised that he was the last person standing, Morris was not impressed.

He didn't want to be the one who single-handedly carried four unconscious people to a safe distance from Python's two-part corpse, nor did he want to be the one who said a prayer to Apollo asking him to heal his children for services rendered. He did not want to be the one who greeted Apollo when he appeared in a flurry of gold light, immediately muttered incantations and conjured enough ambrosia and nectar for everyone, including Nico and Morris. With a wave of his hand, Apollo fixed Morris's ribs and solidified Nico, who had been dangerously close to evaporating from the power of his skeleton army. He attended to Will's burns (not as bad as they looked, although most of his hair and eyebrows were gone) and to Georgina's ravaged side. He only stopped when he got to Rose.

He shrugged and his expression was clear. _No more attendance needed._ Miraculously, Will had managed to clean and cover her burns, pull her clear of the smoke and feed her nectar and ambrosia before joining the fight himself. She would have bad scarring—so would Georgina—but a few weeks in the camp hospital and she would be back on her feet.

Morris didn't want to be holding Nico's hand when he woke up, babbling about their relationship and asking for space and for forgiveness for kissing Will.

He didn't want to help him into Apollo's sun chariot and agree to everything Nico suggested.

But he did.

* * *

><p><strong>... and that concludes this commission. Thank you to Cerulaen for the edits and Ragemoon for her patience!<strong>


End file.
